Miraculous Storm
by Arthur Hansen
Summary: Team Miraculous ends up in a pickle and has to find a way to escape the Bermuda Triangle!
1. Castaways

The red and black-spotted figure landed in the back courtyard of a massage parlor. She peeked in the door and hiss-whispered out, "Master!"

"Enter," the stooped and old man called out.

She walked into the room in a brisk manner. Her transformation dropped in a shower of red-white particles. "I- I think that I'm supposed to get allies to deal with this latest Akuma."

"Allies? Plural? Hmm. Very well. Pick the Miraculouses for your allies." He walked over to the antique phonograph to open a secret panel and touch buttons in a coded order. The lid opened to reveal the Miraculous Box. He lifted it out and opened the top to reveal the place for the two and five miraculouses.

Marinette immediately picked the Fox and Bee. Then her hand wandered, as if in indecision. She looked around the box as her eyes were drawn to the bracelet. "Is that Wayzz's miraculous?"

"All three of the last top tier miraculous?"

"Oh no, that leaves you with no way to defend yourself. I'm sorry, master."

Fu smiled at her. He then reached over to the box and touched another hidden button. Four drawers opened on the middle level while another four drawers opened from the alternating sides of the octagon box on the lowest and final level.

"I still have options," he said with a laugh.

"Oh, wow. You haven't told me much yet, have you?" She blinked and then started to panic. "I need to get back as Cat Noir is fighting all alone!"

Master Fu handed her a small pouch to hold the three miraculous boxes. "Good luck, Guardian Trainee." The moment she disappeared after transforming, he frowned a bit. "Odd. Perhaps I have really chosen her to replace myself."

* * *

Ladybug swung up to the top of The Grand Paris and onto the elevator. Her eyes widened in horror at seeing Alya, Nino and Chloe trip up over the bound form of Cat Noir and all of them end up in the pool before the pirate themed akuma and his ghostly crew. The akuma laughed like a maniacal old man as he waved his saber and pistol around wildly.

"Oh no!" she shouted as she leaped to land on the edge of the pool to interpose herself between them and the akuma with a deft twist of her foot. And failed to see her partner's staff. Her feet went out from below as she fell towards her face, only to be whacked into the pool herself by the flat of the pirate's cutlass.

"You stupid cat, this is all your fault!" the blonde girl named Chloe shouted in Cat Noir's ear. "You had to go and get captured-"

"Chloe!" Alya shouted back. "How about we deal with this first."

Ladybug's head popped out of the water. "Owie."

"Dude!" Nino finally managed to untie Cat Noir even as they all struggled to stay afloat.

"This is all your fault!" the Ladyblogger said to Chloe.

"Why is it my fault that some old codger got upset when I just told him he stank like he'd fallen into something horrible!? It was even the truth!" Chloe shot right back.

"Rude! Impertinent! Captain Hurricane is not to be insulted so by a brat!" the akumatized victim ranted as he pointed his rusty cutlass at all of them. His crew waved their ghostly sabers into the air.

Far away in his hidden lair, Hawkmoth cheered. "Yes! Yes! Defeat them and take their miraculouses!"

"You stupid smelly sea dog!" Chloe shouted as she waved a fist at him. "Ladybug is really going to defeat you now!"

The glowing sigil of Hawkmoth disappeared as he suddenly realized he had an idea. "Ye dare? Fine! Be banished to the Bermuda Triangle!" He slashed his cutlass with a flash of blue magic at the rooftop pool which started to swirl like a drain.

Ladybug grabbed her yo-yo and threw back her arm to toss it at something to pull them free. The sudden grip from Chloe throwing her arms around her limb threw her off just one critical second.

"I'm scared!" the girl wailed.

Cat Noir looked around frantically for his staff only to see it get sucked into the center of the whirlpool. "There goes that idea-!" he shouted as he, Alya and Nino followed it a moment later.

One more revolution of the whirlpool and the last pair followed them through.

"Serves her right!" Captain Hurricane shouted.

"Now retrieve their miraculous!" ordered through his glowing sigil.

The pirate akuma blinked at that. "Are you daft? No one escapes from the Bermuda Triangle!" Oops.

"Bring them back or I'll remove my akuma," Hawkmoth warned.

"That won't change anything! I didn't create the Triangle! That's beyond the power you gave me!"

Hawkmoth roared in anger. "You fool!"

* * *

Ladybug and Chloe shot out of the whirlpool into the middle of a storm at night.

"LB! Overy here," Cat Noir shouted as he struggled to keep his friends afloat.

She started to swim as fast as she could with the other girl in arm. "This isn't working." Lightning flashed and revealed a rough stone formation sticking out of the sea a hundred feet away. "Can you make it to a ledge or anything?" she shouted as she pointed towards the rocky spar.

"We'll crash-" Alya tried to shout only for a wave to pull them under.

The desperate hero grabbed her yo-yo from her off hand and flung it at the misshapen pillar. Once it caught on something, she heaved herself and her burden about halfway up to a narrow ledge. She started to look down into the crashing waves for Cat Noir, Alya and Nino.

"There!" Chloe shouted as she pointed opposite the direction of Ladybug's gaze.

Ladybug threw out her yo-yo and looped it around Cat Noir's chest over his shoulder and under the other arm.

"Hold on," Cat Noir warned as he knew of his partner's tendency to throw him around at times.

"What do you meeeean-!?" Nino started to shout only to scream in panic as they were flung through the air.

The hero's feet almost slipped out from under her even as Chloe grabbed her around the torso.

"I can help!" the girl said between her gritted teeth and pulled with all her might.

"Thank you," Ladybug said in sincerity over her shoulder.

Cat Noir twisted in the so his back slammed into the rock wall instead of the normal teens. "Ow!"

"Careful! Don't' fall back into the storm," Ladybug called out as she steadied Alya.

Alya coughed out the water she swallowed. "Where are we?"

"Didn't the akuma shout about sending us to the Bermuda Triangle?" Chloe answered with a question. "But I'm sure Ladybug's lucky charm will fix everything!"

"Dude, Chloe had a helpful idea!" Nino managed to get out between coughs.

"Milady?" her partner asked.

"I don't have a better idea, but first let's get to the top of this pile of rocks so we don't fall back into the water." Ladybug scooped up Chloe again and quickly scaled up another fifty feet to the thirty foot wide top of the sea stack. "Here you go." She went back to the edge and quickly zipped up Alya with her yo-yo.

"I don't think we can stay here," Cat Noir said.

"No kidding, dude! Way to state the obvious," Nino said with a half smile.

"Duh," Alya and Chloe said in synch, then stared at each other in consternation.

Ladybug shook her head in amusement. "Lucky Charm!" she shouted as she threw her yo-yo into the air. An old style compass like Juleka's family had on their riverboat landed in her hand. Its arrow pointed to behind her. Her brow twisted to show her confusion. "The portal was in the direction, right?" She pointed away from the arrow.

All of them nodded. Cat Noir looked around with his night vision. "Yeah, roughly in between those three, uh, rock pillars?"

Alya looked worried. "Do we trust the compass?"

"Your luck has never led us astray, milady," Cat Noir said in an unusual and somber tone.

Ladybug looked around, but it was just the five of them. The beep of her miraculous losing a dot jolted her to make a quick, decisive action. She untied the pouch from her waist. "I thought that I needed more allies to stop this akuma, but it must have planned for this moment. To survive here, you three must use the miraculous I am giving you, but promise to return it to me afterwards."

Chloe and Nino's mouth dropped open in abject shock as they ignored the rain pounding down on them. Alya smiled in eagerness.

"You aren't the regular wielders, so don't get attached," she lied as she handed Alya her fox miraculous and gave her a quick wink. She then passed Nino and Chloe their own boxes.

"This is so amaz-" Chloe started to say, only to interrupt herself with opening the small lacquered box.

Three flashes of light heralded the appearance of three kwami.

Wayzz looked around as he felt a strange aura. "Where are we?" it asked in a worried tone.

"What are they?" Chloe asked in wonder.

"We're kwami, my queen. I'm Pollen," the bee kwami explained.

"Dude?" Nino asked the turtle kwami in front of them.

Alya gulped as she looked over at the green kwami. "The akuma sent us to the Bermuda Triangle."

"Oh, dear. This could be terrible!" it bemoaned.

"This is Wayzz and this is Trixx. Put on the miraculous, you three. Chloe; say 'Pollen, Buzz on!', Nino; say 'Wayzz, Shell on!' and Alya; say 'Trixx, Let's Pounce', okay?" Ladybug instructed as she handed the compass over to her partner. "Stay here while I feed my kwami, okay?" At Cat Noir's nod, she leaped back down to the narrow ledge.

Three transformation lit up the top of the sea stack, while a detransformation flared on the side.

"So, um? What are my powers?" Nino asked Cat Noir in a direct, but still friendly way.

"I, uh, don't know?" He gave them a helpless shrug.

Out of sight, Marinette fed Tikki a cookie and shivered. "I think we might be in big trouble, Tikki."

Tikki stopped munching on the macaron for a moment. "I'm sure you can handle it! Keep positive, Marinette." She went back to eating the cookie. "I'm ready!"

"Tikki, Spots On!" A moment after her transformation, she leapt to the top of the sea stack. She held out her hand to take her Lucky Charm compass back. "We'll have to swim and stay together."

"Hmm. Maybe I should keep a hold of it as I can see in the dark," Cat Noir noted aloud.

"He's got a point. I can barely see anything," Alya said to them.

"I hope I can swim okay."

Ladybug gave them all a big smile. "We'll be fine. You all have super powers and abilities." She handed the compass to her regular partner and then leaped into the sea.

With improved cheer, everyone followed her into the dark and stormy night.


	2. The Island

Light awoke the tired teens as the sun peeked over the horizon. Cat Noir awoke first with a slight groan. His green on green eyes widened as he took in a sandy beach and the green grass and palm trees that they all slept on.

"Good morning?" he called out to the other four teens. It had taken a lot of work and they had almost lost one or another of the heroes on their swim last night.

"Five more minutes, mama," the red and black figure called out as she lay on her stomach with her face on the grass. "Why is my pillow so scratchy?" Bleary blue eyes blinked open to see the shore of a tropical island.

"Man, you sound like my best friend. That girl is no morning person," Rena Rouge said as she sat up and stretched.

"Marinette's been that way for years," Nino offered as he got to his feet and looked around. "Man, I'm thirsty."

Chloe carefully brushed the sand out of her ponytail of her transformed hairdo. "Yeah, that's the most important thing about survival is getting water. We'll need to find some in the next day or so."

Everyone gave her an odd look at that.

"What? Sabrina and I went to a summer camp last year and took a few survival classes. Well, like the first one," Chloe said to them.

Ladybug rolled her eyes at that. Her expression turned to worry as she pulled out her yo-yo again and opened it up to try and figure out where they were. Still no GPS signal. She raised an eyebrow at the fact that she could call everyone else here, but even calling her home phone number in Paris got a no connection message.

"Still nothing?" Alya asked with a sinking feeling.

She shook her head in reply and looked out over the water. Even the Lucky Charm compass used as Miraculous Ladybug had not fixed everything. "I- I think we might be trapped."

"Obviously these magic doodads don't work with regular networks," Chloe retorted. "Um, Buzz Off!" Her transformation faded and she pulled out her cell phone. "No signal? What do you mean no signal? Daddy paid for an international plan, just in case!"

"Trixx, Let's Rest," Alya said and de-transformed. "Hello, Trixx. Nice to, uh, really meet you."

"Shell Off!" her boyfriend said. "Hey, dude! Can you, er, maybe explain why we can't call anyone or even figure out where on Earth we are?"

Wayzz nodded. "If we were banished to the Bermuda Triangle, we are no longer on Earth but a sort of pocket dimension used as a prison. We kwami are not allowed to go near it unless it is a dire emergency."

Pollen and Trixx zoomed over in orange and yellow blurs.

"Are you saying we are trapped?" Pollen asked in a near shout.

"What about Master Fu?" Trixx called out.

"Can we get out, Wayzz?" Ladybug asked the kwami seriously.

"Not by any means we know of. Only a few people have ever escaped and not many of them even talked about their adventures," the turtle kwami said.

"I've screwed up so bad this time. I'm a failure," Ladybug said as she held her head in a panic.

"No!" and "Not at all," came from Chloe and Cat Noir said at the same time.

Ladybug looked over at him. "We can't stay transformed all the time. So we won't be allowed to keep our Miraculouses."

Cat Noir looked horrified and then off to the sea as the realization sunk in. "Oh. Right."

"What do you mean?" Alya demanded. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Our secret identities are our most important secret we have. Not even Cat Noir knows who I am, because it could be used against us by Hawkmoth. Tikki... my kwami explained that if we expose our secret identities that we would have to give up our Miraculouses." Ladybug almost sobbed. She clenched a fist and took a deep breath and clenched a fist.

"That's too unfair! You are an awesome hero!" Chloe shouted as she started to get mad and stamp her feet into the sand.

She gave Chloe a half smile and then said, "Tikki, Spots Off."

"Plagg, Claws In," her partner said as he felt elated to learn her identity and horror at what the penalty would be when they got back.

The other three looked on in shock. "Marinette?" "Adrien?" came the hurried shouts.

Chloe stared at her school arch enemy. "No! It can't be! You can't be Ladybug! I _like_ Ladybug!"

Tikki and Plagg looked around in confusion and quickly went over to huddle in the air with the other kwamis.

"And I even called you our everyday Ladybug," Adrien said with a snort of depressed laughter.

"You! I Adrien love really of? I mean, made puns worst liked that me for?" Marinette said in a panicked gibberish.

Adrien looked confused and shot a glance over to the stunned Alya and bemused Nino. "Um, I don't understand?"

Alya burst out laughing and collapsed onto her butt. "I can't believe she was all so cool and in control and then the moment she finds out Cat Noir is Adrien she falls into crush-gibberish!"

Nino started chuckling and slapped his hands on his jean clad knees. "Only you, Marinette."

Chloe kept looking on in shock with her mouth open.

"Marinette has a crush? On me?" Adrien asked for clarification.

Plagg did a quick loop-de-loop. "Not like it wasn't totally obvious or anything, lover boy," he cackled in his nasal way.

"Quit picking on my wielder, Plagg," Tikki called out in frustration as the other kwami all laughed.

Marinette and Chloe both collapsed to the ground in a faint.

* * *

A few minutes later, they both came awake at the nudging of their friends.

"Come on, girl, you need to pull it together," Alya said to her friend as she patted her cheeks to help wake her as she knelt on the sand.

Marinette looked up from where her head lay on Alya's lap. "Please tell me I didn't make a total fool of myself in front of Adrien. Who is actually Cat Noir. I've been turning him down because he's such a dork and he's the love of my life that I'm going to not marry and have three kids and a hamster -mumph!"

Her friend held her hand over her mouth. "Stop that. It isn't the end of the world."

"But it is! Dupain-Cheng is Ladybug! My worst enemy! And Adrikins is the super-annoying Cat Noir that nearly gets me killed every other akuma!" Chloe wailed as she woke up and put her hands on her forehead as if to stave off a headache.

"I'm not that bad!" Adrien protested.

Marinette blinked and then finally responded. "Actually, you were worse. And the puns. The _horrible_ puns."

"Adrien does puns?" Nino asked. "Dude! You've been holding out on me!"

"Nooo! Don't get him started! I finally got him to stop punning around me last year!" Chloe cried out as she shot to her bare feet.

Alya looked over at him with appraising eyes. "I think you've been out voted, Agreste," she said in a playful manner.

He rolled his eyes at that. "I guess. So now what?"

Marinette stood up and looked around. "Let's search for water and a place to shelter. That sun is going to get hot later. And some of us are going to get sunburnt."

"Sounds like work," Plagg complained as he floated over to the group of kwami. "I'd rather have some camembert!"

"Plagg!" Tikki and Wayzz yelled at him. Pollen and Trixx just shook their heads at his antics.

"What? I'm just telling the truth!"

Marinette slapped her forehead. "I feel silly. Tikki, could you go up and check to see if there is anyone else on this island? And if this is an island?"

"Of course, Marinette! That's very good idea. We can look for anything that might help," the red and black-spotted kwami said happily.

"Keep an eye out for _drinkable_ water," Wayzz called out as the kwami shot up into the air.

"Well, I guess we can walk along this beach until they catch up," Adrien said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"At least we ended up in a pretty place," Chloe said as she looked around with a glare.

"It really is." Marinette looked at her and her other friend's feet. "That might be a problem eventually. I might have to make shoes for everyone."

Alya nodded. "Yeah, I kicked off my shoes in the swimming pool. And this really reminds me of home back in Martinique!"

"That's right, you're from the Caribbean aren't you, dudette? Teach us, oh pirate sensei!"

"I'm not a pirate, Nino. Though I do know how to sail a boat," his girlfriend replied with a smile.

"Is that-?" Adrien said as he gestured down the beach.

"The end of the island considering I can see the beach through the trees? Yes, Adrikins!" Chloe pulled out her phone again to check for signal. She then pulled a brush out of her purse and started to fix her hair.

"Let's go the entire way and around the bend," their unofficial leader said as she looked around in interest.

Around the bend they saw the beach stretch out another mile before it stopped. Rocky cliffs jutted out down the way. They walked halfway before the kwami returned.

"Guess what?" Plagg said as he hovered in front of Adrien.

"Where on a deserted island?" he replied with a grin.

"With a pirate shipwreck, too!" the black kwami of destruction said in a chortle. "It's just past those cliffs."

"We're pretty close then. What's the easiest way through, Plagg?"

"Flying, of course," he responded instantly.

"And for those of us that can't fly?" Chloe demanded with a stamp of her feet in indignation.

"Probably through the jungle instead of climbing the rocks that block the water inlet, my queen," Pollen said.

"At least someone is trying to be helpful."

Alya rubbed Trixx's head to the kwami's delight. "Shall we?"

"Yeah!" the fox kwami exclaimed.

The stopped about eighty feet in when they found a patch of berries and fruits.

"Breakfast!" Marinette exclaimed happily as she pulled her little swiss army knife out of her purse.

The five kwami checked the fruit.

"It shouldn't kill you," Plagg announced so the kids can start eating breakfast.

"Plagg! What is with you today?" Tikki asked with aggravation.

"I'm just preparing in case we need to destroy this prison," he countered.

Wayzz sighed. "Let us not go too far down that path, Plagg."

A piercing whistle cut through the chatter. Marinette pulled her fingers from her mouth. "Plagg, can you explain what you mean?" She then ate a handful of the odd berries.

"This isn't like Atlantis, is it?" Adrien asked with suspicion as he wiped his mouth.

"Noooo-"

"Yes," the other four kwami shouted.

Plagg huffed angrily.

Chloe looked confused while realization dawned on the other three.

"You sank Atlantis?" Marinette asked in confirmation, so Plagg nodded. "No. You are not destroying the Bermuda Triangle until we find out we have to."

Alya, Nino and Chloe stared at Marinette in confusion.

"What?" Marinette asked in befuddlement.

"They aren't used to your more destructive tactics, milady," Adrien noted with a quirky grin. "Like enraging an akuma enough to chop the Eiffel Tower down on top of us all."

"That did work! And- and-" Marinette palmed her face with both hands. "That was rather crazy and over the top, even if Miraculous Ladybug fixed the damage afterwards."

The other three looked shocked at the turn of the conversation.

Adrien coughed into his fist politely. "So, how about we continue on to that wreck?"

"Cat Noir!" she wailed in despair.

* * *

They trudged out of the jungle twenty minutes later. Alya stepped up to the edge of the water and knelt down to scoop up a handful of water to taste it. "Ocean water," she muttered in distaste.

"Whoa, it's so clear," Nino said as they looked at the small galleon tipped over and just barely under water. "How did it get here? There's no outlet!"

"Someone knocked over a sea stack to block the inlet," Wayzz explained as he pointed a flipper at a huge pile boulders.

"Ooh, pirate treasure! My camembert!" Plagg called out as he started to zip around and fly through things like trees and boulders.

"Adrien?" Marinette asked in confusion.

"Plagg's only real love is camembert cheese, which I doubt is any pirate's treasure. But I suppose there could be a buried treasure chest. At least that could explain the hidden and then sunk ship." The blond gave them a shrug.

"Found it!" the black cat kwami shouted as he popped out of the sand near the jungle.

Five minutes later, the kids finished digging out an old wooden chest.

"Hmm." Marinette studied the lock carefully. She then picked up a rock right there on the ground and smashed it six times with great force. "That worked!"

Chloe, Alya and Nino all relaxed from their startled and shocked stances after a moment.

"Dude! Is this normal?" Nino asked his best friend.

"I don't know? Maybe?" Adrien replied.

"Girl is mad competitive at video games, too."

Chloe just stared with a look of stupefaction. "Where have you been for the last five years? I would have sworn that you would never hurt a fly!"

Marinette looked between her friends, the lock and then the rock. "I just thought it would be the best idea and not make anyone have to transform. I only have five cookies for Tikki-"

"-four-" the kwami corrected her.

"-four cookies for Tikki and we don't even have any food for your kwami." Marinette opened the chest and unwrapped a cloth wrapped bundle on top. "Hmm. Three custlasses." She drew one of the weapons. "A little rusty." She sheathed it and checked the rest of the chest. "Gold and silver coins of a few sizes. A tusk and a small bag of gems. And a pirate's hat!"

"Well, at least we aren't totally broke," Alya said while in deep thought. "Let's salvage what we can and start to make a raft to get off this island. That even includes you, Chloe. Heroes doesn't slack off!"

"What!?" the blonde girl squeaked out in shock.

Luckily, they found a small muddy spring in the middle of the island.

* * *

In the end, Marinette and Adrien designed their raft. It ended up being lens shaped and longer than wide. Even so, they made sure to add pontoons that went out wide for stability made of the three sealed casks. They salvaged the mast from the pirate wreck but had to do with a small sail woven from fern fronds. Alya had them add a deep keel and rudder.

Five days later, they readied themselves to leave.

"So what should we name our overgrown raft?" Alya asked the group.

"_The Parisian_?" Chloe said as she thought of home and examined her poor abused hands.

"_The Little Miraculous_," Marinette offered. "Because we are team Miraculous, after all!"

"Better than my idea for Liberty or something," Adrien said.

"I like Marinette's idea. No offense, Chloe. Your's is good, but I think her's works better, dudette!" the oldest of the group said as he fidgeted with his earphones that no longer worked.

Chloe looked upset and then slumped forward. "I thought I'd come up with a good one."

"It's not bad, but I think we've decided on _The Little Miraculous_. Hmm." Alya looked between her friends and Chloe. "So we've agreed that Marinette is captain, right?"

"Only because you all voted for her," the blonde girl sniped back in a bitter tone.

Pollen flew down to rub cheeks with her wielder. "My queen."

Chloe pet her head in response. At least her kwami had voted for her.

Marinette tilted her head and nodded at Alya.

The older girl sighed and walked over to Chloe. "We're ready to launch it. I made some fruit juice and one of the bottles from the wreck. Would you dedicate the ship, Chloe?"

"Um, why- No, nevermind." Chloe took control of her composure and let her bitchiness show a bit. She took the bottle filled with a deep red juice. "Everyone ready?"

"You bet, dudette!" Nino gave her two thumbs up.

"Don't call me dudette! Really!" Chloe snapped out. She stood up taller. "By the powers invested in me -mumble-mumble- I hereby name this ship the Little Miraculous." She swung and smashed the bottle on the rough log that made up the front of the ship.

"Come on, Chloe! It's going to take us all to push it into the water," Adrien called out as he started to put his back into it.

"I _hate-hate_ this. My nail, my skin and my poor muscles!" she cried out even as she pulled on one of the cross-beam keeping the oddly shaped raft held together.

The Little Miraculous finally floated out onto the gentle waves of the sea. They moored it to a sturdy stump by the primitive rope made of vines. Then they moved to put their meager store of fruits, berries and dried fish. Lastly they put three precious barrels of fresh water to tie mast.

Marinette hissed in pain as her shirt's collar shifted on her sunburnt neck. She glared at the menacing fireball in the sky. She grabbed the old pirate's hat from the chest and settled it on her head.


	3. The Pirates!

_The Little Miraculous_ bobbed up and down as it sluggishly tread water. The makeshift sails of palm leaves only worked at a small fraction of effectiveness compared to cloth sails.

They sailed around three other islands that looked just as deserted as 'Little Paris'. As the sun crept towards the horizon, Plagg returned from a scouting trip from a nearby island.

"This boat looks like an overgrown fern," he complained as he floated over to 'his human.' "I did find a small spring on that next island, so we can get more water. And more berries. Bleh. I want cheese. It doesn't even have to be camembert! I'll even take _American_ cheese!"

Adrien scooped up his kwami and petted his head. "I'm sure we'll find civilization sometime and we'll get your cheese."

"You better!"

Wayzz looked up from where he watched Marinette make a fishing net. "Ship! There is a ship headed towards us!"

Alya shaded her eyes and studied the approaching anachronism. "That looks like one of those restored galleys that rich people buy sometimes." She narrowed her eyes to see if she could make out the flag it flew. "Can anyone make out the flag?"

"You mean the pirate flag?" Adrien asked.

"You can see that?" Chloe asked him in surprise as she looked away from the ship and to him.

Marinette's head snapped up as she started to think _very_ rapidly. "Cha- Adrien, get the swords. Nino get the oars," she ordered in full Ladybug mode. "Consider this on the job training for being a superhero."

Adrien headed over to the chest and pulled out the cutlasses. He handed one to Marinette and kept another.

Nino looked over to his girlfriend and handed her an oar at her nod. Chloe took the last cutlass with a cringe at the rust on it. She held on with both hands in front of her.

"Bend your knees and elbows, Chloe," Adrien said as he quickly instructed her on a proper stance.

All of the kwami hid in their holders pockets or purses.

Five minutes later, the other ship pulled up alongside. A blond and bearded man looked over. He opened his mouth and then noticed the readied weapons. "Well, I was going to ask if you had anything worth stealing and I'll drop you off at the nearest port, but you seem to be a mite aggressive." He pulled out his own cutlass and then leaped over to the raft to clear the pontoon arm.

Marinette and Adrien both hopped just before he landed. The latter charged forward and engaged the pirate captain while the former looked over at Nino.

"Follow me!" Marinette shouted as she charged along the short pontoon and then jumped up three feet to the deck of the pirate vessel.

"Marinette!" Alya shouted as she followed much more slowly and awkwardly.

"Girl, you be crazy," a bald mountain of a man said as he attempted to hit Marinette with a cudgel.

She sidestepped his attack and then lunged at him with the rusty cutlass. "You are not robbing us," she declared as she kept up the attack.

The pirate captain fended off Adrien and Nino with some effort. He yelped in pain after Chloe jabbed him in the hind with the blunt tip of her rusty cutlass. "I'll get you for that-!" he yelled, only to be interrupted as Nino clubbed the back of his head with the flat of the oar. He collapsed with his eyes crossed.

"Dude! I rock!"

"Tie him up, Nino! I've got my lady's back!" Adrien charged across the pontoon and leaped up to the deck of the pirate schooner.

Five minutes later, Marinette and Adrien finished disarming the pirates as they gave pointers to their three new heroes.

"You kids are crazy," the bald first mate said as Nino and Adrien finished tying him up.

"So how do we get out of the Bermuda Triangle?" Marinette demanded.

The three conscious pirates shared a surprised look. Then started laughing.

"You don't, girly. No one escapes the Bermuda Triangle. That's just the truth of the matter. Odd magic, djinn nor aliens and their sorcery of technology will not free you!" the runtiest of the pirates said.

"Well, we can't just float from deserted island to island," Chloe screeched out.

"There's still Marituga, the lighthouse island of the Sea of Beru." The last pirate shrugged at them. "Everyone goes to Marituga eventually. You just have to follow the light."

"So, captain?" Adrien said to Marinette.

"Well, we might as well go to this place then." The raven-haired girl looked at the pirates. "I wonder if there is a reward for capturing pirates?"

"What! You can't do that!"

"Says who, dude?" Nino said with a snort. "We're heroes."

* * *

The islanders of Marituga found themselves treated to the odd sight of a schooner towing a raft with five tied up men into the bay under the rose-red sunset's light.

"Hello the dock! We have captured pirates!" Alya shouted from the prow.

An older, stout woman trotted down the steps from the center of town. "Pirates you say? On Old Samah's ship?"

"Well, he was going to only rob us a little and take us somewhere. But we disagreed with being robbed. I'm Marinette, the captain of our, er, raft."

The dockmaster chuckled at that. "So he bit off a bit more than he could chew? He's not really a pirate, just an opportunistic jackal. We'll clap him in irons for a week to cool off. And fine him with a month's worth of fishing to pay off his debt."

Adrien looked over at Marinette. She gave a little shrug. He turned back to the dockside. "So, uh, who can we talk to about trying to find a way out of the Bermuda Triangle?"

"New to the Triangle then? Well, we do have a witch that trades in secrets and magic. She's the only one I know of that might have a clue, but I've never heard of anyone escaping. Benjamin! Taylor! Get Samah and his crew and take him to jail." The dockmaster waved towards the lantern lit town. "I'd tell you to look for a bunk at the tavern, but there's another ship in that's filled them up. You'll have to sleep on deck tonight before you go speak to old Sassafras in the morning."

"Why do we have to wait!?" Chloe demanded as she carefully stamped her bare feet in frustration.

"Because she closes at night."

"She's right. If this Sassafrassafrassa is the only one that might be able to help us, then we can't antagonize her," their captain said as she watched the two town guards escort the want to be pirates down the dock.

Alya nodded. "I saw some blankets, but we don't want to sleep below deck. I saw some rats."

"Ewwww!" the blond girl said in abject horror.

* * *

Adrien woke up late that night feeling like he was too hot. He shoved the blanket down to his waist as he looked around and felt a cool breeze from the sea. He froze as two voices mumbled incoherently and snuggled into his chest _and_ back.

Plagg cackled softly in his ear. "Good job, lover boy!"

"Not now," he muttered even as Pollen and Tikki started defending their wielders in hushed whispers.

Tikki looked around. "Let's take this up to the crow's nest."

The kwami swooped upward and out of earshot. Adrien smiled to himself as he looked at the sleeping angel below his chin. _His lady!_ A hand on the side of his chest reminded him of another girl, his oldest friend. The one that needed help in being a better person. He let those simple, happy thoughts lull him off to sleep again.

"-my wielder is doing better, so why should she be shoved out of the way?" Pollen asked.

"I'm just glad that the reveal is done. It's always so awkward and these two are some of the worst lovey-doveys ever," Plagg complained.

"It's going to hurt her," the yellow and black kwami said with sad eyes.

The other four kwami closed to hug the last one.

"It's part of their growing up, Sneezie," Plagg said in a whiny tone. "Who knows, maybe they'll even figure out a way that doesn't leave them hurt too much."

Trixx looked at the other. "Since we don't have to hide ourselves, we can try to give some advice."

"A good suggestion, Trixx," the kwami of protection said with a smile. "All of them need to come together as friends and comrades to overcome this trap we are in."

Plagg coughed into flipper. "So, uh, who's into finding some food before sunrise?"

"No, Plagg. Just pester your holder in the morning to go buy some cheese!"

"But I'm starving!"

* * *

"I see doom! Doom I say!" Sassafras called out as she stared through her crystal ball. "But the way is murky and dim." She put the back of her hand to her forehead. "I'm not sure I feel strong enough this morning to jump into such dire portents!"

"Are you for real?" Chloe asked the other even as she wiggled her toes in the comfortable shoes they'd found for her in the market earlier.

"Alas that I have nothing for my troubles," the old witch said with an overdone sad face.

Alya rolled her eyes. "How about now?" she asked as she put down five small gold coins.

"Doubloons? Always a good way to get me focused!" the witch said with alacrity as she made them disappear with a quick sweep of her hands over her table. "So just the five of you and wanting to escape the Triangle?" She narrowed her eyes at them. "Lies will taint my seeing!"

"All of us from our ship, _The Little Miraculous_," Marinette stated in a firm tone.

Sassafras glared at her for a second. "You've got some cunning with the way you think and talk, girl. Mary, for you and your crew, yesterday's storm is a good omen. Let me see, let me see. I know I have it here somewhere." The old witch went to a trunk and pulled out what looked to be a plastid ouija board.

"Dudette, that's just an ouija board," Nino said as he adjusted his glasses.

"Of course it is! But it sees the future! It's from your future, I bet!" Her gnarled finger pointed at the print-date on it for 2159 AD.

"Dude!" Nino said in an awed tone.

"So what are you trying to do here?" Adrien asked.

"I will do nothing but guide one of you. Pick one of you to lead you to your future!" Sassafras declared as she put the lens on the board.

"How do we know any of us have any talent or the sight?" Chloe demanded of them.

"Chloe has a point. Marinette, any ideas?" the blond haired boy asked.

"I'm not sure," she dithered as she thought over things.

"Marinette should do it." Alya winked at her. "Like you're our lucky charm!"

"Oh, right! That's perfect," Adrien said with a smile.

"That doesn't make a bit of sense!" Chloe declared in a loud huff.

Marinette slapped her forehead. "Of course! I just hope I'm lucky enough today."

Sassafras waved her hands and the candles dimmed. She started to murmur words of power under her voice as she put Marinette's hand on the sides of the lens.

Chloe wanted to huff in disbelief, but too many akumas had rekindled her belief in the magical.

"How do we escape the Triangle?" their captain asked as her hands moved.

The lens went to 'seek' and then 'guide'.

"Who is their guide, oh spirits?" Sassafras demanded.

Sword, skull and key were the next words highlighted.

"We need a name," Marinette muttered even as her hands started to move.

C, then A, followed by L, A, B, R, A, S and then it circled back to S again.

"Impossible! Calabrass has been lost for years!" the witch declared.

"Is that, like your years? Or our years? I thought this Triangle thing was a trap in time, too?" Chloe asked in a very confused tone of voice as she waved her hands around like airplanes.

Sassafras looked at them all. "Well, good luck finding one sword in the seven seas and convincing him to help you."

"So where is he?" Marinette asked.

"No idea. Off you go! If you get a ship, I might hire you to do jobs. Otherwise, skedaddle!"

Chloe blinked as she noticed the board and lens had highlighted the word 'outside'. "Um, how about we leave?"

All of them looked at her as she nodded fast and firmly.

Moments later they stepped out onto the side street of Marituga.

"Chloe, did you have a reason to leave then?" Marinette asked.

"Yeah, the board said 'outside'. So I figured something is going on outside that might be important." Chloe crossed her arms across her chest in a defiant way as she lifted her chin.

"Gangway!" a voice shouted. "Skullivar's skeletons chasing me!" The boy came tearing around the corner with a blue girl with scales, an odd looking viking with bits of modern junk for weapons and armor and a yellow ball with hands and feet to go with its digital expression of fear on its blank faceplate.

"Zak?" Alya blurted out in surprise.

A gold skeleton followed behind a moment later. "Get that sword for Lord Skulivar!"

"No way, bonehead!" Zak called out. He skidded to a halt as more of the skeletons appeared in the two other paths. "Uh, oh!"

"This is your fault, Zak Storm!" the haughty aquatic girl stated as she pointed her pistol at the nearest skeleton.

"Crogar bash now?" the viking asked as his US Airforce wing-blade extended.

Marinette narrowed her eyes. "Guess it's more hero training, guys!" She pulled out her cleaned up cutlass and started spinning her rock on a rope like she would her yo-yo.

Adrien and Chloe pulled out their own swords, even if her knees quivered in a bit of fear.

"Nino!" Alya called out as she grabbed the top of a barrel and handed him the round lid. She then armed herself with a thick broom.

"Dragging others into your fight, Zak Storm? You are no pirate captain!" Golden Bones declared pompously as he readied his sickle arm. Light reflected off of it from the morning light that reached them in this alley.

"Calabrass, tell me you've recovered some of your energy?" Zak demanded of his sword.

"Sorry, laddie. I'm still all tuckered out," his skull-sword replied.

"Oh no!" the little robot whined.

The five miraculous holders all grinned.

"Well, my lady, it appears you luck is holding true! Shall we rescue them so we can ask for their help in escaping the triangle?" Adrien asked the raven-haired love.

"Oh, yes! Attack!" Marinette shouted as she stabbed at the nearest skeleton.

"What!? These kids are as crazy as Zak Storm!" her skeleton complained just before she knocked his head off.

"That wasn't hard," she noted with a smile.

"Yeah, until they re-assemble themselves," Zak pointed out.

"Oh, drat," Marinette muttered.

Crysta Coraline Lajune twisted slightly and zapped two of the skeletons.

"Ragnarok!" Crogar shouted as he took out three skeletons on his own.

"Little help here, dudes!" Nino shouted as he blocked two swords from two skeletons.

Alya looked over at Marinette with a pleading expression. "Should we-?"

"No! But we need to retreat!" she called back.

"Yo! Big guy! Break through towards the docks! Come on, everyone!" Zak shouted.

"Ragnarok! Again!" Crogar shouted.

"Follow them and try to slow down the skeletons!"


End file.
